A Rainbow Flag of caviar

A Rainbow Flag of caviar [click for larger image]

To say that people should be allowed to love one another sounds like a soppy platitude, but in some places in the world this is apparently such a controversial and provocative statement that you can be thrown in jail for saying it.

So, yes, I am taking a poke at Putin's ban on "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors".

Normally, I try to give rational arguments in support of my beliefs, but sometimes it's pointless. This is 2014 and if by now a person thinks that that there is something inherently bad or evil about being gay (or bi or trans or whatever), they are simply not thinking rationally. Either they are suffering from some emotional reaction akin to a phobia, or more likely, they have been infected by a destructive (most probably religious) meme. In either case logical argument isn't going to work.

In fact, the whole concept of "teh evil gays corrupting the youth" is so silly, that I feel there might be more to it than meets the eye -  Putin didn't get to be the president of a powerful and somewhat chaotic nation without being well versed in all that Game of Thrones stuff.

It could be a distraction tactic: You deliberately do something outrageously offensive. This draws the attention of the media and gets all of your opponents busy attacking you. Once everyone is distracted, you can then quietly go ahead with your real, and more sinister, objective without any scrutiny.

Alternatively, and possibly more likely, it could be an attempt by Putin to boost his popularity by provoking attacks by the West. The superpowers have, after all, had a long history of using fear and hatred of each other as a tool for domestic political purposes.

Yet whatever the motivation, the fact is that this is an idiotic and regressive law, which will cause harm in itself (beyond whatever harm is caused by the underlying political maneuvering) and deserves ridicule.

The scary thing is that Russia is still actually fairly progressive in terms of LGBT rights compared to some other countries. It's not (yet) illegal to be gay in Russia, whereas in a total of 71* other countries it is. In a total of nine countries it attracts a death sentence, and I should add that one of these countries is Saudi Arabia, whose political system was considered so important to protect that the West fought a war on their behalf.

[* = The exact figures are a matter of debate; some countries have laws on the statute books that are not enforced, whereas others enforce general-purpose morality laws against gays.]

So remember this Valentines Day; there are couples out there having candle-lit dinners only because they're hiding a in cellar and afraid to show a light.

What was the photo about?

This was some synthetic caviar in the colours of the Rainbow Flag I made for Valentines Day. I don't suppose it's a protest that will make Vladimir Putin exactly soil himself with fear, but any attempt to counter a bad meme is better than nothing and anyway it was a fun thing to make. I might post the recipe on this blog some time.